All Quiet On The Western Front Theme Essay

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Recommended: How does the writer portray war in all its quiet on the western front

The novel All Quiet on the Western Front, written by author Erich Maria Remarque, tells the story of a german veteran of World War 1 named Paul and the struggles him and many of the other soldiers were faced with. The book goes into the physical and mental stress change the men went through and had to overcome during the war. It also goes into depth about the detachment from civilian life that Paul had felt. Throughout the story, there are many themes that show the pointlessness and destructiveness of the war,such as a lost generation, human destruction and lastly, moral decay.

By looking at the theme of lost generation it becomes clear that war is overall both pointless, and destructive. Towards the beginning of the story, all the boys come together and are talking and Kropp states how Kantorek had written to them as the “Iron Youth”, which they all smile bitterly to while Paul thinks to himself “ We are none of us more than twenty years old. But young? Youth? That is long ago, we are old folk.”(pg.18) This supports the theme of this generation becoming lost. They no longer consider themselves young with the things they have to face. They know they need to grow up and face the war. The war is destructive to their youthness. Towards the middle of the story Paul was shot in the leg by an enemy soldier and was hospitalized for a while, as he was on there he looked around and saw all the broken people that were in there with him, as this was happening he …show more content…

The author meticulously adds many events and context to really show how war seemed pointless to the soldiers and that it was destructive. Of the many themes in the story, there are three that do an excellent job of proving the pointlessness and destructiveness of the war; human destruction, lost generation, and moral

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